Grantmakers in the Arts

The National Performance Network (NPN) reached out to artists in New Orleans and nationally with a provocative question: "What do you need?" The responses were captured in videos and to keep that conversation alive, NPN asks artists to answer that question via social media with the hashtag #WhatArtistsNeed.

Responding to the impact of the coronavirus pandemic and systemic racism in the US, Bonfils-Stanton Foundation announced additional grantmaking actions both on COVID-19 and on combating racism, including three new anti-racism grants.

The Academy of American Poets, Community of Literary Magazine and Presses (CLMP), and the National Book Foundation announced they established The Literary Arts Emergency Fund, which will provide $3.5 million to the literary arts, a field that, as the press release states, has been disastrously impacted by the coronavirus pandemic.

The Open Society Foundations announced it was investing $220 million "to build power in Black communities, promote bold new anti-racist policies in U.S. cities, and help first-time activists stay engaged," according to its website.

The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation and Yale Law School’s Justice Collaboratory announced recently an initiative to distribute a curated 500-book collection to 1,000 medium and maximum security prisons, including at least one juvenile detention center, across the United States over the next three and a half years, explains the press release.

In a recent piece, Gary Stewart reflects on Forbes on Black Lives Matters and the importance impact investment and foundations operating within the scope of program related investments can have in this moment.

By Sharnita C. Johnson and Randy Engstrom

When the novel coronavirus pandemic hit, like most people – and especially in my role as co-chair of the GIA Racial Equity Committee, with colleague Randy Engstrom, director at the City of Seattle Office of Arts and Culture – we agreed we wanted to say something to address the loss of life, ways of life, and the devastation the arts community was experiencing. While we literally work on opposite sides of the country, and in very different environments – Randy a public funder and me at a private foundation – we like most of our funding colleagues, sprang into action to get much needed resources to our grantee partners.

The coronavirus pandemic and the uprisings over police brutality and systemic racism have had a clear impact in communications in the philanthropic field, as a recent survey conducted by the Communications Network and Atlantic 57 has revealed.